Hey y’all. So because of school and life I have fallen behind on most of my shows. This sucks for me because I’ve been dipping and dodging spoilers as much as I can. I was finally able to catch up and finish two shows this past week. Here’s a quick review, and as always I try not to give any spoilers.

Orange is the New Black

Okay so I’m a big fan of the show, however this past season wasn’t the best for me. Now I’m fully aware that all seasons won’t be stellar, I’m realistic. I’m not even saying it was a bad season, it was just sorta lacking. It still had it’s funny parts, which is one of the main reason I watch really.

via GIPHY
This season we’re back with the prison under new management, which affects everyone there. Staff and prisoners alike are trying to make adjustments. Along with the new management, they have bought in some new, secret high paying job that all the inmates are dying to get a spot in. We also see Dayanara facing the all too real soon to be birth of her baby, and trying to figure that whole situation out. Her relationship with her mom is also digger into deeper, and while at times she can be a bitch you get that deep down she really wants to do good for her kids and what’s best for them.

I love most of the characters, except Piper she just has begun to piss me off. I don’t know what it is about her, but yeah I’m over her. The whole panty scheme she has going on while creative has lead her to think she has some sort of power ala Godfather. This is causing a bit of tension between her and Alex. It’s ok, ultimately she’s put in a bit of a predicament. Ha!!

I love seeing the background for all the characters also, and I’m looking forward to seeing more stories in the upcoming season. I feel like the writers do a great job in this area. Letting us into the character’s before prison, the mistakes that were made and circumstances surrounding their choices. I especially liked seeing Chang’s background and have grown fond of her character. Besides she’s like super resourceful! Seeing more of her character, and understating her past has opened a spot in my heart for her. I also liked that the writers touched on depression this season. One of the characters is having a hard time and is affected by it, and let’s just say it wasn’t dealt with too well by the staff.

So while this season was a bit underwhelming, I’ll still be tuning in for the new season. It did end with a cliffhanger of course, and it was set up nicely. All the gals were having a bit of a break, but we see that won’t be lasting long. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

Season 4 premieres June 17, so I’m kinda glad I put off watching the last season until now. I don’t have to wait so long to see what happens next. I have to say I am excited for this season. I feel like it’s going to ramp up again. We’ll see if I’m right about that.

Guess what? I was pleased with what I saw and heard. I think it’s just refreshing to see superstars be everyday people like you and me. Now I’m fully aware that many of the rich and famous play video games, however seeing it first hand is pretty awesome. As I watched and heard some of his comments, he became more like one of us. When he says at one point he was proud to have killed an opponent on Overwatch, I thought to myself that’s how I feel too when I finally eliminate someone. Check out video of his stream and see for yourself what the hype is about (you have to get about 7 or so minutes in before he appears). Currently his game of choice seems to be Overwatch on PC, but he’s also played Doom.

Not sure how long this will last, or how frequent it will be. What I am sure of is that as long as he’s streaming, I’ll pop in and watch when I can. He’s commentary and peppering in of vocals (and yes he has a set of pipes) is everything. I’m here for gamer T Pain.

I’m Mermaidkisses on Twitch, as of now I have yet to stream, but plan to one day. Are you one Twitch? Let’s follow each other. If you don’t stream who are some of your favorite streamers?

Hello cupcakes and welcome back. Today I want to share with you two games I’m currently addicted with. They help me kill time in between my meetings.

Stack

So as the title suggests this is pretty much a stacking game. The pieces move back and forth and you have to tap it at the right time to stack it on top of each other. Easy right? Not so easy actually. Whenever you miss stacking it correctly whatever amount or piece that’s hanging over the edge falls off, which now makes your piece smaller. And the higher you get the faster the pieces move back and forth. I’ve only made it to about 47 or so. It’s really entertaining and the color schemes are nice to look at. Every time you start a new game a new color scheme starts. The pieces start off as one color and gradually change.

Sailor Drops

Of course I’m playing Sailor Drops, how could I not. It’s a puzzle game where you match up lines of jewels (like Candy Crush but jewels instead), in order to score. Different combinations of matching make a special jewel. The levels vary from regular ole beat the score, to timed ones, collect the accessories, and one where you’re up against the villain. Everything is extra fun because of the Sailor Moon theme, well at least to me it is. However there are some downs. Initially it kinda lags a bit to start up, not like crazy but enough to be annoying at times. Also you get interrupted by the characters. Like you’ll be on a roll and all of a sudden whoever you’re playing as will pop up and cheer. While the concept is cute, it becomes annoying. I’ll be in the zone and bam a scout pops up and interrupts my game. It’s by no means a deal breaker. Also if you have like 5 moves left and it doesn’t seem like you’re gonna win your character starts giving you disappointing looks, and gets all down. I find myself telling it, “Hey now you don’t know that I’m gonna loose this board, I could still pull it out somehow.” This game is right up my alley since I’m probably one of the free people that still plays Candy Crush. What games are you currently playing on your phone?

Hello lovelies. I finally made it to the theater this past weekend and got to watch Captain America: Civil War. First off when ever I do my reviews I try not to go too deep into thing, and post spoilers. With that being said it does make it hard to do reviews while trying not to giveaway too much.

Okay so here we go. The acting as always was spot on. I think for the most part we can all agree that acting isn’t a major concern when it comes to these movies. I loved the introduction of Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman, and am very happy with the the way he executed his part. Another character I was pleasantly surprised with was Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland. Look I’ll be honest I’m kinda over Spider-Man with all the movies and reboots, but this take on him was refreshing and spot on. In other words it’s the Spider-Man I always wanted. That’s just me, I’m sure not everyone feels the same way. Kudos to the writers for getting it right.
Story, overall I had a general idea of what to expect going in and was happy with the writing. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to be executed, but I think they did a good job with it. The only thing that wasn’t 100% for me was the villain. Like oaky I get why he did what he did, but something about him as the villain just didn’t make me believe it all the way. Not horrible, but I feel like maybe there could’ve been more, or maybe a different villain. Eh let’s move on from that because I’m clearly having a difficult time trying to translate how I feel.

Now on to action. Well I think we all know how that goes. It was full of cool fighting scenes, and explosions of course. I have to say that they didn’t go overboard or add things just to have action going on in the movie. The sequences came together and were well executed. I think fans will walk out happy with the scenes, and all the heroes kicking butt.

Overall I would give the movie a 4 out of 5. It was a great movie, with just the right amount of action. I would definitely go see it again. Now bring on Black Panther!!Did you watch Civil War? What are your thoughts?

Hello cupcakes. Today I’m excited to be participating in a blog linkup for the Facebook group Geek Girl Bloggers. The lovely Danielle over at From Girlie to Nerdy was gracious enough to host the exchange. The theme for the exchange was Spring Fling, which I loved. Danielle then went ahead and paired everyone secretly and it was up to us to find out more about the person we were assigned to and send something out to them. I’ll be honest because of school I didn’t have much time to go out and buy things, but thankfully Etsy saved the day. I was assigned to Ashlee over at Her Geekery. At first I wasn’t sure what to go with, but that’s part of the fun.
As for the person that was assigned to me, that would be the amazing Dina from DinaFarmer.com. Guys I couldn’t be happier with my gifts. Imagine my surprise and delight when I received a package and opened it to find a Little Mermaid mug and coloring book!!! I loved them both, and the mug is one of my faves. I’m actually scared to use it cause I don’t want anything to happen to it. Thanks so much Dina!!

This was a fun exchange and I look forward to doing more in the future. Thanks again to Daniele for hosting. Now I’m off to sip some tea out of my rad mug.

Hello and welcome to Butterbeer and Fantastic Tales, where I review my latest readings. Today I’ll be reviewing Diane Guerrero’s memoir, “In the Country We Love: My Family Divided.”
Most people may recognize Diane from Orange is the New Black, or Jane the Virgin however, while this is a memoir it does not focus on Diane’s journey to become an actress (there are parts here and there that touch on her pursing acting and how that was her escape). Instead it is about how at the age of 14 her life was turned upside down when her family was deported to Colombia while Diane was left behind.

Let me just start by saying that the minute I heard about this book I knew I just had to read it. With that being said since it came out while school was in session I went back and forth between reading, and the audio version read by Diane. If you can listen to the audio version I really recommend you do. Diane brings her family and story to life with her reading. Also I like to point out that while this book also has slang and textspeak throughout, it isn’t annoying and does not take away from the story. I personally like it, and it shows her personality.

I’ll tell you right now there were parts of this book that pulled at my heart strings and made it ache a bit. Listening to what happened to her family, and being that I have known people who have gone through similar things hit home. While I am myself a first born here in the US, I did not have to fear that my parents would be deported due to my mom being Puerto Rican, and my dad who is Mexican becoming a US citizen. However my neighbors, some friends, and accuaitances lived this and some are still living this fear everyday. I could not imagine what it would be like to come home at 14 from school and to find out that your parents had been picked up by ICE to be deported. But wait it gets worse, these government officials who took Diane’s parents away then left and did not worry or think about the daughter they were leaving behind. In fact no government agency was there to take care of, or look after the well being of Diane who might I add is a US citizen. How screwed up is that? You come and snatch this kid’s parents up, but nothing was put in place to alert this kid, to take care of her, to ensure her mental health and well being? Yet these things happen every day. Parents leave to work and do not come back home to their kids.

I praise Diane for sharing her story and using her platform to bring this reality into media. While this is Diane’s story, and her voice, this is also the story of so many more people. So many people are unaware, or just don’t care about these fellow human beings, these families, lives that are shattered. Diane’s story will at the very least encourage discussions to be had.

Being that I loved this book so much I have decided to give one of you a copy of your own. Yup that’s right, I want to send a copy of this book to one of you lovely people. To enter just follow the instructions below. Good luck and happy reading!!

Hello cupcakes. So as mentioned I begun my nursing program in January, and well it has done a number to me. The stress from school, and constantly feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work that had to get done, coupled along with just everyday life/family factors had me so exhausted in every way possible at times. Halfway through the semester I decided I wanted to do something to help keep me in good spirits, and just remind me that all is not bad (some days this was harder than others). That’s when I decided I wanted to do some kind of gratitude writing. So every week I made it a point to write a “I’m thankful for” entry in my Day One journal. Basically I made a list of things I was grateful for, or things that made me happy. From trivial things like I drank my favorite tea, to more profound things. And guess what, it helped!! Reflecting on good things that are going on in my life helped me get through some of the tougher, “I give up” times.

So I have decided to bring that here to my blog, and am calling it Sparkly Vibes. Once a month I’ll make a quick list of all the things that give me sparkly vibes. I think it’s a great way to just stop and appreciate some of the things that may go unnoticed when we’re facing our day to day stressors.

Sparkly Vibes:

My children: We celebrated a few birthdays recently, and while it always makes my heart ache a bit seeing them grow so fast, it’s also such an amazing thing to witness.

My classmates: Guys I have made such great connections with some of my classmates. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them. Our study sessions, and just texts keeping each other motivated helped me through so many bumps.

Spring!!!! Flowers, the smell of rain, warmer weather, everything!!

Floral prints: I’ve been digging all the beautiful floral prints I’ve been seeing everywhere. So many beautiful colors and patterns.

Strong badass women: I’ve been coming across so many strong, beautiful, kick ass ladies both in media and IRL. Everywhere from Beyonce’s Lemonade video (or is it a movie? Either way it’s SO good), to women I have encountered in life. So much uplifting and positivity. I love it!!

Banana cupcakes: I had the most moist, fluffy, delicious banana cupcakes. There are no words to explain the yumminess I experienced.

Snapchat: I haven’t added many people, and those I have added either know how nuts I am already, or don’t know me and so I don’t care if they judge me. I feel like Snapchat is my outlet to be silly, to dance, vent, and all the other things I feel like doing, and I don’t worry about who’s seeing it. It’s not like FB where all my friends and family are, or IG where I’m just trying to share things that make me happy, or when I think I look cute. It’s just there for me to say and do what I want without overthinking.

Hamilton: I don’t think I have to go into the millions of reasons why.

While I posted this in the beginning of May, I think from here out I will be posting this towards the end of each month. That way I can kinda recap all the good things from the month. So look for my next Sparkly Vibes post towards the end of June.

What are your Sparkly Vibes of the day? Want to do a link up and share our vibes together, just let me know. What are some of the things that help you get through some of the tougher times in life? Share all your feel goods, I love to hear about what makes others happy.

Hello cupcakes. Well as you can see my plan of updating once week was a major fail. I’ve managed to post only 1 new video on my You Tube channel which I forgot to mention here, doh!! No worries I’ll post it down below.

So here’s the deal, I love to blog and make videos. It’s an outlet I quite enjoy, but with school it’s just super hard to keep up with. I feel guilty for not being to put out new content, and for not being able to keep up with ohter’s blogs and YT channels. It’s not from lack of trying, every morning I wake up and try to get to at least 3-4 videos or blogs before getting out of bed. However I’m missing out on so much still. This has lead me to start thinking of ways to keep content rolling out while I’m at school, and how I can keep up with other’s things. I enjoy reading about books and movies people liked (or didn’t), I love seeing everyone at Cons, and the latest collectible added to a collection. So I’ve began brainstorming, and mapping things out. I’m hoping to have a better system once my semester starts again in August. In the meantime thank you to those who have stuck it out with me, and check in on my blog/YT channel even though it’s drier than the Sahara right now. I’m almost done this semester, and after May 10th (okay maybe May 11th, I’ll need a day to recuperate after my final), I’ll be free to make updates and create videos.

Also I got the above photo from Helene over on Helene In Between, her site is full of all sorts of blogging tips.

Any and all types to stay organized and on top of making content is welcome and appreciated. How do you organize yourself? How do you just keep up with things in general? I feel like I’m behind on life, not just this blog.

It’s me again… Lol okay I know it’s been done but I couldn’t help myself. Every time I hear the word hello now I think of Adele, and well that’s not bed per say. So here I am after a very long hiatus. So where have I been, what have I been up to? In one word, school. I was accepted into my nursing program in October of last year and it has begun this semester. It’s been nonstop since January. I’m constantly reading, in class, doing assignments, or just in study groups. There just hasn’t been time for too much. However I will be trying to update here and my YouTube channel at least every other week. No promises, but that’s my goal.

So with that being said lets just do a quick recap on some of the things I’m into right now.

TV Shows: Well of course The Walking Dead is back so I’m all about that. I won’t go into spoilers but the first episode coming back to the season was one of the best ones hands down. We had a little get together and there were screams all around.

Besides that I watched and finished HBO’s Getting On and Nurse Jackie. I enjoyed them both and might do a review.

Video games: I finally got The Sims and have been playing that on and off. I wanted to play Fallout, but I feel like I’ll get sucked in and well I can’t do that right now. I’m looking for other games to play, for Mac or PS4 so if you have suggestions send them my way.

Movies: Went and saw Deadpool, and loved it. It’s not a movie for kids at all, so I would use caution if you’re thinking of taking a younger person.

Makeup: My makeup addiction this month are matte lipsticks. Well they have been my addiction for the past couple of months. I’m actually thinking about doing a review on my top 5 in March so be on the lookout for that.

Loves: I’m just loving so much lately. Even though school has been rough, I’m loving everything I’m learning. I’m loving my amazing boys, and my husband. I’m loving myself. I’m loving photography again (well I never stopped loving it but I’m trying to get back into the habit of taking pictures again).

So those are some of the things currently taking up the little free time I have. I’ll be back soon with updates and som fun stuff.
Let me know what are some of your current loves and as always send me recommendations. Xoxo

Desiree

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Hello! Today I’m happy to share my unboxing of the Gudetama Cafe blind boxes. These blind boxes are made by Rement, and are a little different than some of the other blind boxes out there. Unlike the Funko blind boxes, these are more of a set of items. Depending on the line it could be food, household items, school supplies, etc. The Gudetama Cafe ones are all food related, which I’m surer you figured out from the name.

I really enjoyed doing this video and plan on doing more in the future. I like that these are sets of things as oppose to just a figure, because I feel like I can use these to take some cute pictures with my Figmas and Sailor Moon figures. Don’t worry I’m still a fan of the Funko blind boxes, mainly the horror ones, and The Walking Dead line; and I plan on doing unboxing videos of those in the future.